J.R.R. Tolkien- Innovator of Fantasy

 

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, was born on January 3rd, 1892, in Bloemfontein, South Africa. After his father's death on February 15th, 1896, he and his family returned to the West Midlands of England. Growing up, his childhood was a mix of rural England's beautiful hills and industrial Birmingham's smog. Once he reached school age, he was sent to King Edward's School, and his family moved to King's Hearth and into a house backed onto a rail line. From his home, Tolkien's fascination with languages began from coal train destinations such as "Nantyglo" Penrhiwceiber" and "Senghenydd". 

Eventually, the family moved to the more pleasant area of Edgbaston, where his mother and aunt were baptized into the Roman Catholic Church and estranged from both sides of the family. In 1904, Tolkien's mother was diagnosed with diabetes, which was fatal before the creation of insulin. After her death on November 14th, 1904, Tolkien and his brother were taken in by Father Francis, the local parish priest. During this time, his linguistic abilities began to show through his mastery of Latin and Greek and his competency in modern and ancient languages, such as Finnish, while creating his languages for fun. The summer before he went to college, Tolkien joined a party on a walking holiday in Switzerland. At Exeter College, Oxford, he became immersed in Germanic languages, classics, old English, Welsh, and Finnish. Although he initially began as a Classics major, he switched to English Language and Literature after a disappointing second-class degree in Classics. 

Although World War 1 broke out on July 28th, 1914, Tolkien returned to Oxford to achieve a first-class degree, which he obtained in June 1915. He began many poetic attempts throughout this time while working on his invented languages. Eventually, Tolkien enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers while working on his story of Earendel the Mariner and his journeys. Finally, he was sent to depart for France, so he married his childhood love Edith on March 22nd, 1916, before he was sent to the front lines. There, Tolkien fought during the Somme Offensive and spent four months in and out of the trenches before he got "trench fever." In early November, he was sent back to England, where he stayed a month to recover before returning to Edith by Christmas.

His illness continued throughout 1917 and 1918, but he continued to develop his stories. Once the war had ended, Tolkien was appointed assistant lexicographer for the New English Dictionary, later known as the Oxford English Dictionary. While working on the dictionary, he presented one of his lost tales, which he had begun constructing, and his bouts of illness. In the summer of 1928, he became an associate professor in the English language at the University of Leeds, where he collaborated with E.V. Gordon on the famous edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight while refining The Book of Lost Tales and his invented languages.

During his professorship and grading exam papers, Tolkien discovered a student had left one page of the answer book blank. Yet on the page, he wrote, "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit." Thus began the investigation into the character of the Hobbit. Where it lived, what it did, why it lived in a hole, what sort of hole it was, all became questions ingrained in the tales Tolkien told his children before bed. Eventually, this tale morphed beyond the bedroom and into an incomplete typescript in 1936 when it was discovered and presented to Stanley Unwin, the chairman of a publishing firm. Thus, The Hobbit was published in 1937 and met with immediate success. 

After the decision that his completed works were not commercially publishable, Tolkien began the arduous task of creating a sequel for The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings was born. Stanley's son Rayner, who was now involved with the company, had to manage Tolkien during this time, along with the author's many delays and temperamental moments. However, the book was eventually published in three parts during 1954 and 1955, and its publication was met with immediate public praise. By 1965, The Lord of the Rings was put in a pirated paperback version, where a massive copyright dispute gave the book a substantial American audience that wanted something new but relatable to their experiences. However, the book's success led Tolkien to feel both honored and wealthy, but also overwhelmed by the obnoxious nature of some of his fans who would call him in the middle of the night or show up at his home. So, Tolkien changed addresses, moved to a South Coast resort with his wife, and made his phone ex-directory. Tolkien continued to write and publish articles, which continued after his death through the work of his sons. Eventually, Tolkien's incomplete writings were published in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, and after a monumental investigation into the study of Middle-earth, History of Middle-earth was published.  

Tolkien's creative process was long and complicated. He had to picture, sketch, and perfect the many objects and places he included in his works. After he had set the foundation for his world, he constructed his drafts. He looked at these with harsh criticism and often changed places, people, characters, and names and would draw them out with the knowledge that they would likely be revised later if he did not like them. Tolkien created his works by telling stories to his children and allowing them to develop and unravel themselves as he spoke. In a way, Tolkien was improvising his stories and rewriting the things he did not like. This method is much like the one Nick Cave uses as he sits in the studio with Warren writing his songs, which he details in Faith, Hope and Carnage. Both improvise as they go, yet their many improvisations are edited and narrowed down to a product they are happy with. 

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/

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